University of Rhode Island Fall Honors Colloquium explores"Legacies of the Vietnam War"

KINGSTON, R.I.-August 26, 1999 -- This fall, the University of RhodeIsland community and the general public are invited to explore in depththe true legacies of the Vietnam War with experts who have studied the war,artists who have re-imagined it, and those who lived through it.

Coordinated by Political Science Professor Gerry Tyler and English ProfessorDon Kunz, the semester-long Colloquium, "The Legacies of the VietnamWar," will offer students the chance to study the major consequencesof the War-not so much by looking back at the historical facts, but by lookingaround at current artistic, cultural, environmental, military, political,psychological, and sociological phenomena that evolved as a result of theconflict.

Free and open to the public, the lecture series begins Sept. 15 and runs through Dec. 7 and features such speakers as: former CongresswomanPatricia Schroeder (Sept. 15); Good Morning Vietnam film subjectAdrian Cronauer (Sept. 28); author Le Ly Hayslip (When Heaven and EarthChanged Places and Child of Peace, Woman of War) (Oct. 5); Televisioncorrespondent and author of Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam toBaghdad Peter Arnett (Nov. 2); and a panel of Rhode Island veterans(Nov. 9). Also speaking will be Wallace Terry, author of Bloods; An OralHistory of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans (Oct. 26), among manyothers.

Colloquium events also include a photo exhibit in the URI Fine Arts Gallerieson the Kingston Campus, coordinated by Gallery Director Judith Tolnick,which runs from Sept. 14 through Oct. 31. The exhibition will offer RhodeIslanders an opportunity to add their own photographs and text to conveytheir personal legacies of the war. In October, the URI Theatre Departmentwill perform John DiFusco's play Tracers which follows the livesof several U.S. combatants.

The Colloquium is sponsored by the University's Honors Program, Collegeof Arts & Sciences, President's Office, Student Entertainment Committee,Women's Studies and Film Studies Programs, Counseling Center, Departmentsof English and Political Science. Other sponsors include the John HazenWhite Sr. Center for Ethics and Public Service, the URI Foundation, TheProvidence Journal, the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, and theURI Division of University Advancement.

Most presentations will be held on Tuesday evenings from 7:30 to 9 p.m.in the Barry Marks Auditorium Chafee Social Science Center on the University'sKingston Campus. Following is a complete schedule of the semester-long lectureseries. For a brochure on the Colloquium, contact the URI Honors Programoffice at 874-2303. The schedule is also available on-line from URI's homepage at http://www.uri.edu.

Legacies of the Vietnam War

The URI Honors Colloquium, Fall 1999

A Series of Public Lectures at the University of Rhode Island

Free and open to the public, this series is held on URI's Kingston Campus.Most presentations take place on Tuesday evenings in the Barry Marks Auditorium,Room 271, Chafee Social Science Center from 7:30 - 9 p.m., unless notedotherwise. (This schedule is also available on-line from the URI home pageat http://www.uri.edu)

September 14­October 31 - EXHIBITION: THE WAR IN VIETNAM­AFTERIMAGES

An installation featuring photographs and text by veterans who returnedto Vietnam to capture the war's lingering impact on its landscape, people,and themselves. Supplemented by photographs and text donated by Rhode Islanders,including Southeast Asian refugees, this exhibition of visual artifactswill convey personal legacies of the war. Main Gallery, URI Fine Arts Center,Tuesday through Friday 12­4 p.m. and 7:30­9:30 p.m., Saturday andSunday 1­4 p.m. Judith Tolnick director of Fine Arts Center Galleries,University of Rhode Island

September 15 - POLITICS IN THE POST-VIETNAM ERA.

A former twelve-term Congresswoman and first woman to serve on the HouseArmed Services Committee will explore the political legacy of the VietnamWar at the University's 1999 Convocation. Edwards Auditorium, 3 p.m.

Patricia Schroeder president and chief executive officer, Associationof American Publishers, Inc. (sponsored by the President's Office and theURI Foundation)

September 21 - MAKING FOREIGN POLICY AFTER VIETNAM

A co-author with Vietnam-era Defense Secretary Robert McNamara of ArgumentWithout End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy analyzes the misseddiplomatic opportunities during the Vietnam conflict and how that awarenesscan inform future foreign policy decision making.

Robert Brigham associate professor and director of Vassar College'sProgram in International Relations

September 28 - GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM: THE REAL/REEL STORY

A veteran contrasts the story of his Vietnam experience which he soldto Touchstone Pictures, with the script its writers concocted and the filmwhich became Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), starring Robin Williams and URIgraduate, the late J.T. Walsh.

Adrian Cronauer senior attorney and corporate vice-president ofBurch & Cronauer; specialist in communications law.

October 5 - VIETNAMESE WOMEN: VOICES UNHEARD

The untold story of how, during decades of war and reconstruction, Vietnamesewomen struggled to preserve themselves, their families, and their culture.This is URI's 5th Annual Eleanor M. and Oscar M. Carlson Endowed Lecture.Edwards Auditorium.

Le Ly Hayslip founder, East Meets West Foundation and the GlobalVillage Foundation, author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Childof War, Woman of Peace

October 12 - STRATEGIC LESSONS FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: PERSONALAND PROFESSIONAL

A former carrier-based fighter pilot and P.O.W. during the Vietnam Wardiscusses the personal and professional lessons learned from his war experienceand their relevance to military strategy.

Porter Halyburton professor, United States Naval War College

October 14­23 - JOHN DIFUSCO'S TRACERS

A performance by the URI Theatre Department of Tracers, a play whichtraces the lives of several U.S. combatants during the war, immediatelyafter, and during the 1980s. Performances held in the URI Fine Arts Center'sRobert E. Will Auditorium, October 14­16 and 20­23. Call 401-874-5843for tickets.

A discussion guided by URI History Professor Maury Klein and Vietnam-Warcombat veteran Robert Brunelle follows the October 16 performance.

October 19 - IMAGES OF VIETNAM: UNDERSTANDING THE VISUAL LEGACY

As the gallery exhibition draws to a close, an anthropologist specializingin the analysis of visual imagery explores questions raised by the photographs,places them in social and political context, and suggests how they definethe legacy of Vietnam.

Peter Allen professor, Rhode Island College

October 26 - RACE AND THE VIETNAM WAR

Black soldiers fought and died in disproportionate numbers in Vietnam,leaving a legacy of pride and patriotism. A journalist and oral historianasserts that their protests against racism off the battlefield helped changethe Armed Forces into the most successfully integrated institution in America,and that the brotherhood they shared with white comrades on the battlefieldfulfilled a dream of Martin Luther King Jr. and became a model of behaviorfor a nation still divided by race. Note: Mr. Terry will present a secondprogram, "War Correspondents," at URI's Feinstein College of ContinuingEducation in Providence at 7:30 p.m. on October 27.

Wallace Terry contributing editor, Parade magazine; author ofBloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans

November 2 - VIETNAM WAR REPORTING

A battlefield correspondent with over 35 years' experience argues thatthe generation of reporters who covered the Vietnam conflict forever changedAmerica's view of war and the media's role in American foreign policy.

Peter Arnett chief correspondent for foreigntv.com, author ofLive from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad (sponsored by The ProvidenceJournal)

November 9 - Veterans' Voices

After a screening of "Remembrance," a 30-minute video programabout Vietnam War veterans that was developed by Norwich University students,a panel of Rhode Island veterans will speak, linking their own experiencesto those of the veterans featured in the video.

November 16 - WARRIOR DREAMS: THE CULTURAL LEGACY OFDEFEAT IN VIETNAM

A specialist in military sociology argues America's defeat in Vietnamled to development of a new mythic hero.

James William Gibson professor, University of California, LongBeach; author of The Perfect War and Warrior Dreams

November 30 - THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT WE ARE SUPPOSED TOFORGET

An early activist against the Vietnam War, now a prominent cultural historian,shows how the real movement against the Vietnam War has been re-imaged andforgotten, thus hiding its relevance to America today.

H. Bruce Franklin John Dana Cotton professor, Rutgers University;author of M.I.A., or Mythmaking in America

December 7 - THREE SEASONS

A screening of the first full-length film by Tony Bui, a 26-year-oldVietnamese-American director. Three Seasons depicts ordinary Vietnamesecoping with economic and cultural changes in post-war Vietnam and a formerAmerican Marine returning to find his Amerasian daughter. Chosen as thebest dramatic feature at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. In Vietnamesewith English subtitles, 110 minutes. Biological Sciences Auditorium on URI'sKingston campus, 7:30 p.m.

For further information, contact Professor Don Kunz, Department of English,401-874-4337 or dkunz@uri.edu; Professor Gerry Tyler, Department of PoliticalScience, 401-874-4053 or gtyler@uri.edu; or Deborah Gardiner, Honors ProgramSecretary, 401-874-2303.

For More Information: Linda Acciardo, 874-2116 or Jan Sawyer,874-2116